


I don´t feel so well

by NYWCgirl



Series: Whumptober 2020 [21]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Delirium, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Infection, Medical Procedures, Sickfic, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:48:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27132052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NYWCgirl/pseuds/NYWCgirl
Summary: Mac has a papercut and tells Jack he is sick, but Jack thinks Mac is up to no good.
Series: Whumptober 2020 [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946980
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	I don´t feel so well

Mac cuts his finger on a paperclip, a sharp pain travels through his finger. He sucks on the tiny bleeding wound. He doesn´t give it a second thought, they are so close to getting their suspect and he needs to stay sharp.

Two days later they have their man and the team comes together for drinks at Mac’s deck. It is Mac´s turn to get the drinks and when he picks up the tray, he feels a sharp twinge in his lower back. He discards the pain, he probably pulled a muscle while running after their suspect. He smiles inwardly, he isn´t twenty five anymore.

Over the next days the pain becomes more intense and Mac puts a heating pad against his back. But he also realizes he is developing a fever. So it is not a pulled muscle, it must be the flu. He makes himself a cup of tea after Jack drops him off at home and crawls in bed, feeling hot and shivery. Later that night, before turning in, he takes some over the counter meds. The next morning he is waiting for Jack with tea in his travel mug.

‘You OK?’ is the first thing Jack asks.

‘Yeah, think I caught a bug, but I have tea with honey and lemon.’ Mac shows his travel mug.

‘Are you sure you are up to going to the office. You are allowed sick days, Mac.’

‘Nah, I will be OK.’

Jack notices that he doesn´t say he is fine.

‘Let me know if it gets worse, I´ll drive you home.’

Mac nods and closes his eyes for the drive to the Phoenix. He rouses when Jack shakes him.

‘We’re here, are you sure you are OK? You look like you are running a fever.’

‘Yeah, I´m fine. I brought some Dayquil.’

Mac planned to spend a day in the lab while he has some trainings with the TAC teams planned. Jack makes a mental note to check up on Mac through the day.

But like everything, real life takes over the minute they walk into the Phoenix. By the time Jack realizes he wanted to check up on Mac, he quickly walks down to the lab but he can see Mac is not sitting behind his desk. He curses at himself for getting so caught up in the trainings. There are still a couple of employees in the lab who tell him that Mac left some time ago. Jack is glad Mac was sensible enough to go home and not wait for Jack, although he hopes he asked someone for a ride.

He quickly gets his stuff in the gym, but when he passes Mac´s locker, he notices Mac´s jacket is still there. Mac wouldn´t leave without his jacket, would he? Jack takes out his phone and calls security to see if Mac left the building. He hasn´t, so he is still in the building. Something must have happened. Jack drops his belongings on the floor and calls out to one of the agents to come with him.

When they enter the bathroom, Mac is laying crumpled on the floor.

‘Mac!’

‘Jack, I… I can´t move my legs.’

Jack stares at Mac who appears to have fallen and must be laying on the cold tile floor for some time.

‘Edwards, call medical.’

Jack kneels next to Mac.

‘What happened?’

‘I don´t know, I just fell.’

‘Why didn´t you call for help.’

Mac looks sheepishly, ‘left my phone on my desk, who needs it in the bathroom?’

Jack nods, that actually makes sense. He takes off his jacket and balls it under Mac´s head, who is relieved that he can take his head off the bathroom floor.

Within minutes medics enter the room and examine Mac, but except for the fever that is raging through Mac, they can’t find anything wrong that would explain why Mac can´t move his legs, so they strap Mac to the backboard and take him with them, telling Jack they are going to UCLA.

The ER doctor at UCLA can´t find what is wrong with Mac, but admits him because the fever is still not under control. By now, Mac is mostly out of it, the fever is taking a lot out of him and he is no longer really lucid.

* * *

Mac wakes because it is abnormally hot. His brain is telling him to do something, to get help, get himself out of this situation. When he opens his eyes, he stares in horror at the scene in front of him. Two men are feeding him into in oven. That explains why he is so hot, they are trying to burn him. He can hear and feel the oven starting up with a clicking sound. Next there is a roaring when the flames ignite.

He starts fighting the two men and the more they try to restrain him, the more desperate his struggles become. He calls out for help but nobody helps him.

The flames are coming closer as the men are able to get him closer to the oven. Mac fights with all his strength, but they are stronger. Alarms can be heard and Mac can only hope someone sees what is going on and will stop them. The alarms are getting shriller and it is getting more difficult to breath, the heat almost unbearable and he can smell burning flesh. Since he can´t get away from the men, his panic seeks another release and he screams.

The pin prick is almost lost to his overloaded brain and it just shuts down.

* * *

‘What is happening?’ Jack asks when alarms start blearing and staff rushes into the MRI room.

When the ER doctor had ordered an MRI, staff had explained that he wasn´t allowed in with Mac into the MRI room, but he was allowed to accompany him to the medical imaging department. Mac had lost consciousness in the ER, and the doctor had subsequently ordered an MRI.

Jack steps closer to the MRI room, but a nurse takes his arm.

‘Sir, you can´t enter the room, there is a strong magnetic field and you have metal items on yourself. Please for the safety of the patient and the staff I must ask you to leave.’

Jack knows she is right and he has to admit he hasn´t thought about the fact that the MRI is always activated. But he is worried about Mac.

As quick as the alarms came on, they are back to normal. The staff leaves the room and closes the door behind them.

‘Are you with mister Macgyver?’

‘Yes, I am. What happened?’

‘Mister Macgyver regained consciousness and became agitated. We had to sedated him. But we will make use of the fact that he is now still to perform the MRI.’

‘Do you have any idea why he was agitated?’

‘Mister Macgyver was confused when he woke up, it is not uncommon, especially with his body temperature being so high. We will perform further testing, it is too soon to speculate.’

Jack nods and the nurse excuses himself. Jack takes a seat and waits for what is coming.

* * *

The next time Mac wakes, he is still hot, but there are no flames or oven in sight. He blinks blearily at the overhead lights that luckily are dimmed. He must have moved or made a sound, because he can hear someone moving.

‘Mac?’

He does his best to turn his head, but it doesn´t seem to co-operate. There is also a strange taste in his mouth. Was he kidnapped, did they chloroform him? Why can´t he move?

Well he must have moved or attracted attention in another way, because he can hear someone getting up.

‘Mac, can you hear me? Relax, you are in hospital.’

Mac wants to look at the familiar voice, but he can´t. He can feel a hand on his arm and it comforts him to a degree.

‘Mac, you need to calm down and breath slowly. Do you understand?’

He wants to, he wants to listen to the voice, but he is damn tired. He does his best to keep listening to the voice.

‘It´s OK, Mac, go to sleep. Everything is going to be alright. We are here.’

* * *

It pains Jack to see Mac like this. The doctors transferred Mac to the ICU, after he was diagnosed with an infection that needs to be brought under control. The only injury the medical staff can find is a small cut on his finger. Once he is transferred to the ICU they start a large-bore catheter with fluids running together with broad spectrum antibiotics. Mac has been sleeping most of the time but when he wakes in the middle of the night, he is completely disoriented, very agitated and clearly hallucinating. The staff is not fast enough to prevent Mac from pulling out his IV catheter, blood is spouting all over the place as Mac thrashes in their grip. Medical staff immediately filters into the room and Mac is quickly sedated again. This time the staff doesn´t take any chances and Mac is put in medical restraints before they re-insert the IV.

The next morning Mac is examined and the doctor concludes that Mac is suffering from ICU psychosis. When Jack finally is allowed in the ICU during visiting hours, he immediately sees the restraints and asks what happened. The staff explains what happened last night and Jack asks what caused the episode, the doctor explains that Mac suffered from ICU psychosis.

‘What caused it?’

‘It can be caused by a number of things, but it is likely that it was the infection that created fever and toxins in the body. Blood is drawn for analysis. And we will be able to tell you more when we have the results back. In short, Mister Macgyver became temporarily psychotic. I understand that it upsetting and frightening to hear, but remember, it is temporary.’

It doesn´t really assure Jack, but he nods.

‘What is next?’

‘We will be reviewing Mister Macgyver’s medication, but familiar objects, calm words may help, so I guess this is where you come in Mister Dalton.’

‘I am not going anywhere, I am staying with him.’

‘Yes, that was what we wanted to ask you. We will use more liberal visiting policies for Mister Macgyver.’

‘Good.’

‘We will also minimize shift changes in his nursing staff.’

‘OK.’

Jack takes a seat next to Mac’s bed and keeps an eye on Mac, who sleeps most of the day. Sometimes he doesn´t even wake when staff turns him or takes vitals. It is clear Mac has fluctuations of the level of his consciousness, but he mostly is out of it.

But when it starts getting dark, Mac’s agitation increases, when Jack makes a remark about it to Mac’s nurse, she smiles and explains that it is a phenomena that is called sundowning. Jack talks to Mac which seems to settle him. He also leans into Jack’s touch, so Jack makes sure that he touches Mac as much as possible.

It is a rough night for Jack, but he is happy to do it to prevent Mac from losing it completely.

* * *

Once Mac was being discharged from the ICU, he was transferred to Phoenix medical in hope that with a more quiet environment they are able to resolve the problem of Mac’s anxiety, so Mac could heal. Once that they knew Mac had an infection, they could treat it and make sure they got it under control. And with the clearing up of the infection, so did Mac’s confusion.

Now that is able to stay awake longer, he is almost back to being himself. No more hallucinations, or other weird symptoms.

When Jack comes into the room that afternoon, he is carrying a small package.

‘Is that for me?’ Mac asks pointing at the little gift wrapped box.

‘Yeah, yeah, it is. Look kid, you gave me a good scare there, so I got you a little something.’

He hands Mac the box and Mac shakes it, ‘they’re paperclips, aren’t they?’

‘Will you just open it.’

Mac tears the paper off revealing a box with plastic paperclips.

‘That way, you can’t cut yourself anymore.’

‘I still can, but I appreciate the thought. Thanks man.’

‘You’re welcome kid.’


End file.
